A Name
by smolder
Summary: "She did not wish the name to become an unknown demand on her child. Something to live up to, even if this was all because of some higher power. Maybe especially if it was."


Title: A Name  
>Author: smolder<br>Disclaimer: I own nothing. Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling and Angel the Series belongs to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt.

Luna gave the final push and then stared at the ceiling dazedly as she tried to catch her breath. Thank Merlin for pain potions. As she heard her baby give its first cry she smiled faintly to herself but didn't turn her head.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the other MediWitches giving her concerned and odd looks but she had learned from a young age to pay such things no mind. There were much more important things to contemplate. A decision to be made.

Since she had learned of her baby's existence she had been dreaming of its life.

Its previous life. Bits and pieces coming to her whenever she closed her eyes and relaxed her mind.

Love and pain. Triumph and despair. Friendship and crippling loneliness. She had always been more open to seeing such things.

Six hours ago, she had witnessed the end of her child's extraordinary previous adventure as well as what had transpired afterward. Luna had awakened from the horror of it to her labor beginning.

The head MediWitch brought the now cleaned up baby to her, "You have a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby girl."

Luna finally broke eye contact with the ceiling and smiled, "Thank you, Hannah."

Hannah smiled back at her brightly as she helped her situate the baby for its first meal, "Give a ring if you have any problem, I'll be back in a few to check on the little one. Have you got a name yet?"

"I'm currently in the process of pondering."

Hannah giggled a bit, but Luna knew that unlike a lot of people from her youth Hannah's mirth at her way of speaking was entirely good natured.

"Well," Hannah said in a mock business like tone, "let me know when you do." Then, smiling brightly, she left the room.

Feeling the pressure on her breast increase Luna gazed down and gave her baby its first really long look over.

Pink, wrinkly, a surprising amount of hair that she had been warned might fall out.

Luna's face softened. Perfect.

But the naming. People in her generation might not like to remember but she had never and would never forget. Names were important.

Names could mean power.

Luna bit her lip contemplatively. It was a good name. A strong name. A warriors name.

Her baby fussed a bit and she shifted her away from her breast. Hannah came in and oversaw the first burping and then Luna cooed and rocked her little one until the trauma of being shifted around so much had eased and through it all she thought.

She did not wish the name to become an unknown demand on her child. Something to live up to, even if this was all because of some higher power.

Maybe especially if it was.

But perhaps it would give her little girl a sense of empowerment instead. A sense of pride and inner strength that the woman who held the name before her had done so much. Lived so much.

Or was that too much pressure? Was it pressure if the child was never made aware of her souls' previous owner? Was that even her choice?

Sleepy eyes blinked up at her and Luna ran her hand gently over the soft brown hair.

There was a commotion and raised voices in the hallway outside her room and then the door burst open and there he was panting for breath, hair disheveled as always, and eyes wide behind his glasses.

"Harry," she said calmly smiling faintly at him.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't come sooner Luna. I was out on a raid at work and I didn't get the message that you were in labor until 20 minutes ago," he babbled desperately from the doorway.

"Harry," she repeated cutting off whatever else he was going to say, "come see the baby."

His eyes widened even more and he approached her bed very tentatively. When he got within a few feet of it and saw the baby he froze again and simply stared.

She smiled at him fondly, she knew how hard this was for him. Especially the fact that none of this was happening in a manner that was entirely conventional, something that she knew bothered Harry a lot more than it did her.

After the final battle Harry wanted Ginny and Ginny wanted Harry. Everyone knew this; perhaps her most of all with the amount of time she had spent first as Ginny's confidant and then after the war as Harry's mock date.

See, how this was supposed to work was very simple. Which is probably why it failed.

Despite being very much in love, Ginny was not yet ready to forgive Harry for, as she saw it, up and leaving her instead of trusting her and her skills and letting her tag along like Hermione and Ron did. That didn't mean she didn't want to be with him. Eventually. Which was fine, Harry was willing to go slow. Start over. Fight for her. All of those entirely romantic things.

The problem came from the 'Victory Parties'. Voldemort was dead and everyone wanted to celebrate. This was all entirely understandable. However, as the hero, Harry was expected to come to most of the official parties and a good deal of the unofficial parties he found he couldn't say no to because they were hosted by friends. And friends were almost as important to Harry as they were to her.

However, Ginny and Harry weren't quite dating yet. They were very tentatively friends. So, going to many many public parties as each others dates would be beyond awkward. But they both knew that if Harry went alone he would be swamped by females which was something neither of them wanted.

Their solution? Luna.

The plan might have worked if it wasn't for the alcohol. _Every_ event had alcohol and it was the first opportunity Harry had ever had to imbibe. He had no idea of his tolerance and he went about finding out quite quickly. It turned out that Harry was a very affectionate and sharing drunk. Luna quite enjoyed their talks and the way he would stare at her with wide fascinated eyes as she animatedly described the different creatures she had seen and read about. And she listened in great detail to the saga of Harry and Ginny from Harry's point of view.

It went quite well - he picked her up at her flat and took her to the party and at the end of the night she swung his arm around her shoulders and made sure he got back safe to his own small cottage and usually tucked a quilt that she was sure made around him as he snored loudly.

George's shindig is what did them in. She was usually so careful about how much she drank so that she could get Harry home at night. Be the "designated driver" as Hermione had joked. But the twins had had a new invention before Fred died that was being shown off that night: instantly refilling glasses. She hadn't registered that perhaps it was time to get going until Harry was cuddled into her side nuzzling her hair, her face felt to hot and she couldn't stop giggling.

She didn't know which one of them apparated to his place, it certainly hadn't been safe in their condition but suddenly they were in his room - falling onto his bed with him on top of her. When they landed he didn't move, but looked down at her for what seemed like a very long moment, green eyes hard to make out in the dark room, before slowly bending his head to kiss her.

She kissed him back.

The rest of the night she only remembers parts of. His thumbs stroking her hipbones. The surprised almost slack look on his face when she ran her tongue over his nipple. The way he hummed bits of Muggle songs against her skin. His glasses slipping off his nose and hitting her on the forehead when he first thrust into her.

The fact that they seemed to be happy the whole time; smiling, laughing and giggling.

It wasn't until the next day when Ginny had come over to surprise Harry with breakfast that she remembered why it had been wrong.

"So what," he swallowed hard. "What are you going to name her?"

Luna looked into Harry's green green eyes then up at his forehead where a scar still resided even all this time after Voldemort's destruction.

She looked back down at the the wonderful thing that she had made with one of her best friends. It might not have been planned but she wouldn't have changed it for all the snorkacks in the world.

The world would always need heroes and she wanted to give her little girl all the help she could get.

"Winifred," she whispered as the baby dozed, "her name is Winifred."

A/N: This is the first part of a series. The next is called 'Winifred Sola Lovegood: A Life in Bits and Pieces'.


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